As far as I’m concerned, they shot their wad on health care and that’s the way it is. I’m sick of it.

Commentators on social media thought the phrase had an entirely different meaning from the one Hatch intended, one often used as a sexual reference.

Hatch, or his official Twitter account, didn't just sit back and take the responses, but instead answered with what the account called "a valuable jargon lesson on 'wads' and the shooting of them.'"

Hatch's office linked to the Oxford English Dictionary online, that promises to help users "discover the story of English." Hatch, seemingly tongue-in-cheek and inviting comments about his age, Tweeted, "As few of you were alive during the Civil War," followed by references from the OED online about muskets.

Hatch embedded a reference where the phrase refers first to "a plug of tow, cloth, etc. ... to retain the powder and shot it position in charging a gun or cartridge."

A second definition on the same entry seems to fit Hatch's quote on Politico. It says:

In fig. phr. to shoot one's wad, to do all that one can do.

Twitter, or at least some on it, seemed unconvinced and responses were plentiful, including some who thanked Hatch for his levity.